Chapter 1

So a few people have expressed interest in reading the other Red Skull story I mentioned at the beginning of "The Meaning of Loyalty," so I finally decided to post it. This story is much older and was written when I was quite a bit younger, so I have had to do a lot of work getting the chapters presentable enough so that I'm comfortable posting them. But here are the first two and I'll clean up the others and post them when I have time.

Also, this story does not take place in the same continuity as "The Meaning of Loyalty," because, as I said, I wrote it long before I wrote the other story. I also don't know where it could possibly fit in with Marvel's own continuity. I did my best to avoid any really glaring errors, but Marvel's continuity is very complicated, so I'm sure I made some mistakes. If you notice any that you feel like pointing out, feel free to do so politely via reviews or private messages and I'll see about fixing them.

Thanks for reading!

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Nick Fury regarded the report that had just been brought to his desk with alarm. It had come from one of his carefully placed agents, hidden deep within the criminal underworld, in this case, a corporation loosely tied with the Red Skull. Not a very important organization, just a small front for supplying weapons and explosives, but it did allow the spy a fair amount of information on where said resources were being funneled…and therefore, where the Skull's interests and future plans of attack might lie.

Now, he couldn't help but feel a terrible misgiving as he went over the document, translated from a complicated cipher by one of his top specialists. The report indicated that the Red Skull seemed to be planning a rather large attack, and the types of weapons and where they were being transported seemed to indicate that the target was an organization that he had clashed with several times in the past.

A.I.M.

The creators of the Cosmic Cube.

Fury sighed as he pushed the paper aside and weighed his options. True, it was possible that there was another reason for the Skull targeting A.I.M, since the organization was hardly limited to manufacturing that single artifact, but if the Skull was going to devote so many resources to a risky attack like that, they had to have something he really wanted. And there was nothing the Red Skull desired more than the Cosmic Cube.

Fury knew he was going to have to plan a counter attack, and soon. The Skull had come into possession of a Cosmic Cube several times during his long history of activity, and each and every time, they had been lucky to defeat him, aided by either flaws in the cube's design, or the Skull's overconfidence. And even with those lucky breaks, the battles had been difficult and risky, and the consequences for failure too terrible to consider. And, of course, there was no guarantee that this cube would contain any flaws, or that the Skull wouldn't have learned from his past mistakes. Their only hope, as far as Fury could see, lay in stopping the Skull before he got his hands on his new toy. And that would mean a swift attack on A.I.M, at the same time, if not before, as the Skull and his forces made their move. A swift attack with the most powerful fighters available. Including the one who knew the Red Skull best.

Nick Fury buzzed his secretary. "Get me Tony Stark on the phone as soon as possible. I have an urgent mission for the Avengers."

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The Red Skull sat at his desk, gazing contentedly at the reports that he had already read several times. It was undeniable. A.I.M. had been quite busy this past year, and all their activity seemed to be leading up to one thing. The schism in the organization had finally been repaired, and MODOK subdued. As far as the Skull's agents had been able to determine, the giant-headed monstrosity was still alive and being kept heavily sedated with some type of drug A.I.M. had developed specifically for that purpose. They appeared to be keeping him around so they could finally use him for his intended purpose…handling vast quantities of data for their experiments. For one particular project especially…a project that MODOK had been specifically designed for. This, coupled with signs that they were running test experiments with machines designed to handle vast amounts of power, and it was almost plain as day that they were working on the construction of a new Cosmic Cube.

He smiled as he thought of the shining artifact that would soon be waiting for him. He didn't know if A.I.M. were manufacturing the cube for their own use of if they were working for someone, but he supposed it didn't really matter. The cube would be his. He would seize it for himself upon the moment of its completion, and then…then it would all be irrelevant anyway. A.I.M. would tremble at his feet, just as the rest of the world would. He would finally have his hands on what he had been seeking to control for so many years...absolute power. For he knew that this cube would give it to him. It would be perfect, unlike the others he had tried to make use of in the past. With MODOK fully under control and focusing his energy on handling the data for the cube, there would be no flaws this time. Everything would be perfect.

He couldn't help but feel a familiar prickle of excitement at the thought of the day when the cube would be completed and he and his men would storm the facility and take it. He was sure the battle would be a fierce one, and he didn't think that fierceness was going to come from the A.I.M. agents they would certainly be fighting. No, he had a feeling a certain someone else was going to show up to make things difficult.

His smile grew as he thought of it. "You will show up, won't you, Old Enemy?" He was no fool, and he knew that others would surely have their eyes on A.I.M.'s activities. Members of one underground organization could barely go out to pick up the morning newspaper without members of every other underground organization paying careful attention. It was the nature of things in this city, where the underworld was packed so thickly with criminals vying for their spot in the pecking order that they resembles vultures gathered around a fresh carcass on the savanna. Others would likely suspect A.I.M. was up to something….and that included opponents on the right side of the law as well. The Red Skull knew Nick Fury would get wind of what was going down, and that meant that the Avengers were bound to show up to put a stop to both A.I.M.'s and the Skull's plans.

"You always show up to thwart me, don't you, Captain?" the Skull muttered to himself. And yet strangely, there was no anger or frustration in his tone. No, he had long since come to terms with the inevitability of it all. He sought power, and Captain America sought to take that power away from him. It was the nature of things. It was the entire driving force behind both of their existences. It was such a constant, such an absolute, that the Skull always factored that possibility into his plans. As such, he was rarely caught by surprise anymore. He knew Captain America would show up to try and stop him from gaining the cube, just as he knew the sun would rise in the east tomorrow morning.

"I'll be ready for you, Captain," he said softly to himself, finally pushing the reports aside and taking a sip of his coffee, which had long since gone cold. He drank it anyway, staring out the window at the city below, thinking of the prize that lay waiting for him and the obstacles that would stand in the way of him reaching it.

"The stakes this time are very high indeed, aren't they Rogers?" he said, taking another sip of the lukewarm coffee. "That means the battle will be a fierce one. But I'll be ready for you. I always am. In a way….I'm almost looking forward to this."

He smiled again and sipped his coffee as he stared out the window at the world he would soon own.

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Steve Rogers sighed quietly to himself. He had just gotten the news from Tony Stark, and he was far from happy about it. Of course, he knew that he and the Red Skull would clash again. That was inevitable, so long as the Red Skull lived. But knowing that the Cosmic Cube would also be a part of the equation filled him with a terrible dread. He knew just how vicious the Skull could be when he held power like that. He had seen it firsthand. Enslaving his enemies, torturing cities full of people for his own amusement, bringing the armies of the Third Reich down upon Washington D.C.…there had been no end to his depravity. Now, he had the chance to get his hands on power like that once again, and Steve had no doubt he would take it.

He shuddered as he thought of the countless people who would suffer at the Red Skull's hands. He couldn't let that come to pass. He knew that the Red Skull would stop at nothing to get his hands on his prize. But he, Captain America, would also stop at nothing to make sure the Red Skull never claimed it.

"You won't get a chance to make another innocent person suffer, Skull," he said softly to himself. "I'll be there to stop you. I always am. And no matter how hard you fight, know that I will always fight harder."

Steve Rogers stared out the window and dreaded the ugly battle he knew lay ahead of him.